Sled attachment



' no MODEL.

I [rile-if wlflzey WITNESSES:

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maven. n, c.

Noam) PEYERS co,

' cate corresponding parts in both the figures.

UNITED STATES ERNEST O. XVHITNEY, OF WEST PATENT OFFICE.

FITOHBURG, MASSACHUSETTS.

SLED ATTACHMENT.

PECILIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 719,287, dated January 2'7, 1903.

Application filed August 26,1902.

1'0 aw whom it 11mg concern.-

Be itknown that I, ERNEST C. WHITNEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of West Fitchburg, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Sled Attachment,of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

The purpose of this invention is to provide means for preventing sleds from sluing or moving sidewise and at the same time to prevent materially complicating the sled or increasing the cost thereof.

To this end the invention comprises a gripper-plate of such novel form and arrangement that when the-sled runs straight ahead said plate lies in inactive position; but as soon as the sled begins its sidewise movement the grippeaplate automatically becomes active and firmly grips the surface on which the sled is running, thus preventing the sluing of the sled.

The invention is especially applicable to logging and other sleds which are intended to carry heavy loads, although, of course, it may be used on sleds of all sorts, as will be apparent to skilled mechanics.

This specification is the specific disclosure of one form of my invention, while the claims define the actual scope thereof.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indi- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-section showing the action of the gripper-plate.

a indicates the runners of the sled, which together with the other parts of the sled may be of any desired construction. b indicates the gripper-plates. These plates are one for each runner and are arranged preferably at the inner sides thereof. Said plates have bails c fastened thereto, and the bails are mounted to swing in clips d, secured to the inner sides of the runners, the arrangement constituting hinges the axes of which run longitudinally of the sled and being such that the plates may swing outward to the true vertical position shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 2 or inward into the inclined position shown at the Serial No. 121,038. (No model.)

left-hand side of Fig. 2. The plates 5 extend along parallel with the runners and may be of any length desired. Of course the longer the plates are made the more efiective will be their action. The lower edge of each plate is beveled downward and outward from the runner adjacent thereto, as shown in Fig. 2, and when the plate lies in the vertical position pointed out above said beveled edge cuts into the surface on which the sled runs. When, however, the plate lies in its inclined or inactive position, the fiat side of the lower edge of the plate runs idly over the surface. The front ends of the plates, or both ends, if desired, should be curved up like the runners Cb.-

When the invention is applied as explained and the sled is running straight ahead, the beveled surfaces on the lower edges of the plates cause said plates both to incline inward, so that the flat sidesof said. edges run idly over the ground. This not only keeps the plates inactive, but it also has a steady grinding efiect on the edges of the plates and keeps them sharp, so that they will do efiective work 011 icy or other hard surfaces. However, should the sled begin to slue, say, for example, in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2 the left-hand plate I) will retain its inclined or inactive position, but the righthand plate will be thrown in against the side of the runner, and its sharp bottom edge will then cut into the. surface on which the sled runs. This prevents sluing of the sled and forces the sled to slide ahead. The in stant that the sluing tendency is removed and the sled settles down to its normal for-' ward movement both of the plates 1) work inward and lie idly in their inclined positions. It will be observed that the action of the device is entirely automatic and that when there is no work for the device to do it lies inactive and in no way interferes with the unrestrained operation of the sled in its proper manner.

Various changes in the form, proportions, and minor details of my invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Hence I consider myself entitled to all such variations as may lie within the scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination with a sled, of a relatively rigidgripper extending alongside of the runner of the sled, and means for mounting said gripper to swing freely sidewise of itself on the runner, toward and from the same, for the purpose specified, said gripper being formed of a metallic plate having its lower edge beveled outward and downward from the runner.

2. The combination with a sled, of a gripper extending longitudinally alongside of the runner thereof, and means for hinging said gripper on the said runner, the axis of said hinging means extending longitudinally of the runner, whereby to mount said gripper to move freely sidewise of itself toward and from the runner, the said gripper being formed of a metallic plate, the lower side of which is beveled downward and outward from the runner.

3. The combination with a sled, of a rigid grippenplate extending longitudinally along- 2 side of the sled-runner, and hinges mounting said gripper-plate on the said runner to swing freely toward and from the same around an axis longitudinally of the sled.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNEST C. WHITNEY. Witnesses: GEORGE F. JEFTs,

DAVID A. HARTWELL. 

